JUNCTURES
August 28 – September 26, 2020
I-Chun Jenkins | Steve Jones | Maja Padrov | Ralph Simpson
A woodworker, a ceramist, a basket maker and a paper weaver have worked together to each produce four new pieces as well as four collaborative pieces for their show, Junctures. All of the work is in 3D finely crafted of clay, wood, plant fibre and paper. By combining their creative momentum. They have built an exhibition that demonstrates their skills in a celebration of a collaborative effort for the promotion of fine craft in New Brunswick.
I-Chun Jenkins earned honours in Textile Design from the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design in 1994, she began her career in the fibre arts weaving scarves and shawls using yarn that she dyed in the traditional Japanese wrap dyeing technique known as IKAT. In 1998 I-Chun raised a family and in 2010 she purchased a small café in downtown Fredericton. But by 2013 I-Chun yeared to get back to what she loved to do, so, she sold her café and set up a home studio to begin the process of getting back into weaving and creating with fibre. I-Chun was never one to follow tradition nor wanted to duplicate any piece of work so she looked at working with non-traditional weaving material and ways to create one of kind pieces of art. Her love of magazines, nature and protecting the environment lead her to an artist’s logical conclusion. She reuses magazines by using the pages as her material source for her artwork. Pages are meticulously cut, sliced, weaved, crocheted or folded together to create a very unique piece of artwork.
Steve Jones is a Saint John-based wood artist. His work combines recycled skateboard decks with natural woods and is informed by his lifelong passion for skateboard culture. Steve’s artwork has been represented in galleries, shops, and festivals across Atlantic Canada such as Handworks and Studio 21 and has been purchased by the New Brunswick Art Bank Collection. Steve sits on the board of directors of Craft NB and along with a collective runs Art 400sqft , a small commercial gallery in St. Andrew’s. Steve has participated in the Beneath the Surface residency in Fundy National Park, completed an internship with Sculpture Saint John, and for the past two years has had the opportunity to exhibit his work internationally at SOFA Chicago.
Maja Padrov graduated from the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design and has been working with clay professionally for the last 18 years as a studio artist and part-time instructor. Padrov inspired by sculptural possibilities of functional pottery and research in glaze chemistry. I have participated in several national and international ceramic residencies and workshops. I have received grants from New Brunswick Arts Board, Canada Council for the Arts and Sheila Hugh Mackay Foundation. Padrov’s work has been shown in group and solo shows nationally and in group exhibitions in North America, Europe and Asia.
Ralph Simpson was a Forest Research Biologist and after retirement, he returned to school at NBCCD to study Aboriginal Visual Art. His focus now is artistic but he still spends many hours in the woods as he explores the potential of plant and wood fibre to create baskets and sculpture. In collecting plant fibre he uses harvest principles that embrace environmental integrity and sustainability. With a deep respect for traditional weaving with his own innovations, he incorporates a wide variety of materials and techniques into his artistic practice of creating work that focuses on form, process, and materiality. Inspired by the local environment and nature’s forms he creates contemporary sculptural forms in his studio in Fredericton, NB.
